CHICOPEE — A narrow street yard at 35 Campbell Place is filled with trash, car parts and other items, surprising neighbors.
Like other hoarding cases, this case is currently pending in Western District Housing Court after attempts by Chicopee authorities to clean it up failed. The owners appear to be building a makeshift fence under a judge’s order in January.
The scene is an example of a largely misunderstood mental disorder that health and safety authorities are struggling to understand. This disorder is often hidden in the shadows until it is brought to public attention by the actions of police, fire, and building inspectors.
In extreme cases, it can lead to eviction.Expert estimates Approximately 2.5-3% According to the medical journal, 800 people in the U.S. population suffer from the disorder, which can be divided into five limb levels.
The Holyoke man is no stranger to this issue and has made it his life’s work to help others.
“It’s not my fault that I have this mental health issue, but it is entirely my responsibility to manage it,” peer counselor Lee Shure said in a recent interview, saying he’s dealt with the disorder for years.
Counselors say the disorder is often accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of embarrassment.
“There’s a lot of shame attached to this disorder,” said Kathryn Bertiome, a senior clinician at the Human Development Center and a member of the Western Massachusetts Hoarding Task Force, one of more than a dozen such groups in the state. “We have a really hard time studying it because there’s so much shame in it.”
Berthiaume said the disorder only recently got its own diagnosis. Previously, hoarding disorder was part of obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorder. Women are slightly more likely to fall victim to the disorder than men. The condition may be related to dementia in older adults, childhood trauma and other mental health factors.
“It really takes a lot of time, effort and care,” Berthiome said. The support is provided by “It’s buried in treasure.” The workshop was a national task force that grew out of efforts in western Massachusetts and was most strongly led by Schuur.
slow progress
Chicopee Health Director Lisa Saunders said the Campbell Place property has received the city’s attention, but officials are being held up by the Western District Housing Court. A judge gave the owners 90 days to clean up the deed after an April hearing that followed other hearings on the land. The city considers the home to be a public health and safety hazard and is responding to calls from neighbors for help.
“Housing court can be slow. Owners have come to every court hearing and provided receipts for cleanup efforts. There’s so much we can do,” Sanders said in an interview. Ta. “If it had been going on for years, we would never have been contacted.”
According to court records, fed up neighbors have contacted city officials for relief. “This property has been under condemnation for the past 30 years, but only came to light when (the residents) were the subject of a police search warrant,” they wrote in an open letter to Chicopee officials.
“Try harder!” The letter concludes.
Neighbors and property owners did not respond to requests for comment. Republicans are not identifying the property owner because mental health issues may be involved.
The Chicopee hoarding incident isn’t the only incident to make headlines in recent days. This spring, a home at 284 Denver Street in Springfield made headlines after 30 dogs had to be adopted out.
“Pet hoarding is also part of this disorder,” Barthiome says.
Springfield Public Health Director Helen Coulton Harris said no calls were recorded regarding the Denver Street address. She said the health department typically gets involved only when there is an animal or pest infestation. In most cases, incidents are reported by police or law enforcement officers.
Berthiome and other experts say that at some point, tenants have posted signs on their doors to prevent anyone from entering, and many people with hoarding disorders do so to keep disturbances in their homes private. It is said that he is doing so.
“The tenant inside is seriously ill with the coronavirus. Please leave your luggage by the door,” the sign said.
Springfield’s code enforcement commissioner said issues with the Denver Street property had not come to the city’s attention before the home was sold.
“We get quite a few cases like this every year. There aren’t that many. But it’s just a handful,” said Steven Desilets.
As with the Campbell Place and Denver Street properties, extreme buyout scenarios can impact nearby neighborhoods.
A neighbor on Denver Street recently said on condition of anonymity that he had lived near the crumbling red house for six years and that it had become more than an eyesore.
“I hear dogs barking all the time, and in the summer the smell is so bad it stinks. I had to put a fence around the garden,” she said.
Springfield building inspectors found floors and other surfaces stained with animal waste, personal belongings and trash scattered throughout the home, crumbling walls, holes that appeared to be dog gnaw marks, and illegal wiring. The tenants were forcibly evicted because it was determined that there were defects in the house, such as the presence of concrete.
“They didn’t talk to anyone on the street. It’s a nice, quiet street,” the neighbor said. “I’m glad we closed before summer really started.”
Former tenants Christine Allen and Ernest Brouillette initially sought emergency relief from the property’s new owner. A Housing Court judge initially ordered the new landlord, Rebecca Hayward, to house the tenants in a hotel on her own income, but later reversed the decision, finding that Allen and Brouillette were responsible for the filth. The judge ordered them to clean up and not live in an RV parked in the house or yard.
But neighbors told reporters that Brouillette had reentered the trailer and was sleeping there, powered by an extension cord.
“They’re dropping him off every night,” the woman said.
When Brouillette saw the reporter talking to neighbors, he walked down the street and into a wooded area to avoid being seen.
“Hidden” problems
Agawam attorney Rich Herbert spends much of his time in housing court, primarily representing landlords and property management companies. He estimates he only encounters one hoarding incident a month, but is sure there are many more.
“The nature of hoarding is to hide. So unless you have a chance to go inside, you may never know about the incident,” Herbert said.
He is the principal of the management company that manages Springmeadow Apartments on Cannon Circle in Springfield, according to publicly available court records. During an annual inspection at one of the federally subsidized apartments, managers encountered an apartment occupied by a single mother and her four children.
“Plaintiff observed multiple violations regarding damage to the premises, poor sanitation and clutter within the unit. The damage and disarray is extreme. All violations are caused by the tenant,” the statement said. says the emergency motion to repair.
Herbert said hoarding on large public housing sites poses a risk not only to the residents of the units, but also to other tenants nearby.
“The main safety risk from hoarding is the risk of fire,” Herbert says. “However, the unique environment of this unit is such that it attracts insects and rodents, and if it spreads to other units it would be a problem.”
nature of the disorder
Little was known about hoarding disorder until the early 1990s, when Smith College professor Randy O. Frost conducted student-led research in a class focused on obsessive-compulsive disorder. One student wanted to write a research paper on hoarding disorder. Frost initially tried to dissuade her because there was little prior research on the topic.
“We put out an ad in the local newspaper looking for pack rats and thrifters. We got 100 calls,” Frost recalled. “We did the research and all the literature about it started. We still don’t understand a lot about this disorder…but it’s not just troubling.”
Frost continues to write books about the disorder, including co-authoring. “Content: Compulsive hoarding and the meaning of things.”
Frost said clinicians believe that some components of hoarding disorder are genetic and linked to serious illness, obesity and difficulty “regulating emotions.”
Frost said she worked with a woman who had a stack of cookbooks but had never cooked. For her, Frost said, her cookbook promised a new identity: serving delicious food to her friends.
“For all of us, possessions have a magical quality,” he said.
Schuur, who lives in Holyoke, suffered from hoarding disorder and is now helping others on their way to recovery. He is a certified peer counselor and Mutual support network. He spends much of his time reaching out to others who suffer from the same disorder, leading peer-based support groups, running virtual conferences and organizing cleanup drives.
In a recent interview, Schuur, 49, recalled acquiring her first “unnecessary item” as a child, living in her parents’ home in Wakefield. The item was a broken push lawn mower that he had received from a neighbor.
“I carried it around for about 40 years and finally got rid of it. Never mow with it. It was kind of like a ball and chain,” Schur said.
This disorder worsened in his mid-teens, when he became a bit depressed and lonely. He found solace and escape in things like comics.
“It wasn’t just about things. It was about how they made me feel,” he said.
Just a year after marrying his now ex-wife, she ventured into his room and basement full of stuff and gave him an ultimatum: me or the stuff.
Schur got help. He is currently Western Massachusetts Hoarding Disorder Resource Network. He often works one-on-one with others, offering himself to those facing eviction or search inspections, which can be traumatic for victims.
Schuur also strives to educate people not to use the term “hoarder” to refer to people suffering from the disorder. He encourages the use of the term “excessive finder-keeper” instead. He is not a fan of the TLC network’s TV show of the same name, “Hoarders: Buried Alive.”
“For the past 15 years, this disorder has become something between an inconvenience and a sideshow,” he said of popular culture.
Anyone seeking help for themselves or a loved one suffering from hoarding disorder should contact Mutual Support Consulting at [email protected].
